>> i'll borrow a line from bonnie and clyde. don't ever get rid of that dog. >> don't forget to set your dvrs to never miss an episode of "the five." "special report" is up next. newly unearthed testimony alleging the fbi had an informant inside the highest levels of al qaeda. before 9/11. this is "special report." good evening. i'm bret baier. we have new information tonight on just how far ahead of the september 11th, 2001, terror attacks the u.s. government had any idea of how dangerous osama bin laden could be. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is here with fascinating details. >> thank you, bret. according to court documents the fbi source was in direct contact with osama bin laden eight years before the 9/11 attacks.

it was clear even then that the al qaeda leader wanted to finance plots inside the u.s., and it appears none of this information was shared with the 9/11 commission, nor the relevant congressional committees. the human intelligence asset was run by this fbi agent. the connection to bin laden only came to light after he filed a discrimination suit against the bowero and his supervisor testified about the quality of his work and the assets he was running, quote, it was the only source i know in the bureau where we had a source in al qaeda directly involved. it's a very small group, but this person was already here. he was also connected to the blind sheik serving a life prison sentence for the hack in 1993. the information helped the fbi disrupt a terrorism plot against a los angeles messianic lodge in the '90s. neither lee hamilton who chaired the 9/11 commission, nor the executive director could remember be told about the fbi

asset. a former head of the house intelligence committee said they were in the dark, too. >> this is the first time that anybody really did a deep dive into al qaeda. what were their capabilities, their plans, and why did we walk away from bin laden or his organization some time in the '90s when we were that close? >> in a statement, an fbi spokesman said all relevant information was provided to the 9/11 commission, but separately, a senior law enforcement official tried to cast doubt on the accuracy of the testimony and the source's access to bin laden, bret. >> okay, thank you. >> the clock is ticking on u.s. troop presence in what is already the site of america's longest war, but is president obama in such a rush to get out of afghanistan that he's risking a return of the taliban? jennifer griffin takes a look from the pentagon tonight. >> the chairman of the joint chiefs, general martin dempsey, flew to kabul, and spend the day with commanders and troops explaining the president's latest directive to start planning for the withdrawal of

all u.s. forces by the end of the year. he warned that afghan president hamid karzai's unwillingness to sign a bilateral security agreement, an uncertainty about a future u.s. presence, encourages afghan forces to hedge their bets and side with the taliban. he added, quote, it is having an affect on the enemy and in some ways i think encourages them, and intelligence supports that. they denied he issued ultimatums when he talked the president on tuesday. >> there's no discussion of complete withdrawal in the discussion. >> karzai said he won't sign the security agreement until after afghanistan's presidential elections in april. >> the longer we wait, the more likely the possibility is that we end up with a zero option, with no troops at all beyond 2014. >> chuck hagel is in brussels for a two-day meeting with nato defense chiefs. his goal, to insure that the other allies don't begin a run

for the exits in afghanistan. nato's secretary-general issued his own warning. >> if there's no agreement, there will be no nato troops in afghanistan after 2014. >> yesterday's phone call was the first time that president obama had spoken to karzai since last june. >> it's unprecedented in war time for a war-time president not to engage in constant discourse with his principle ally. >> the chairman of theous armed services committee gave a scathing speech this week condemning president obama for remaining disengaged from afghanistan. >> it's incredible that the president has only talked about this war a handful of times. and people don't know what's going on, don't know what we have accomplished, don't know the successes that our troops have had. and i just think that is reprehensible. >> both scales and mckeon suggest the president's silence on afghanistan demonstrates he would actually prefer to leave at the end of the year.

despite what his commanders want. general dempsey, a proponent of standing, left afghanistan today without meeting karzai, bret. >> jennifer griffin live at the pentagon. thank you. more on this with the panel. in nigeria, hospital officials say a 16 yoerld boy has died of gun shot wounds following an extremist attack on a school raising the death toll there to 59. the attack was carried out by a militant group whose name means western education is forbidden. >> syrian state media reports government troops killed 175 rebels today in an ambush south of damascus. if confirmed, it would be one of the deadliest attacks in the three-year-old civil war. the state news agency said most of the dead belonged to an al qaeda linked group. >> vladimir putin has ordered massive military exercises along his border with ukraine. the russian defense minister said troops will check readiness for action in crisis situations.

russian officials deny any plans to move militarily on ukraine. and u.s. secretary of state john kerry is downplaying any east-west tensions, quipping to nbc, quote, this is not rocky roi iv. >> democrats are preparing to launch a new wave of political attacks on republicans alleging a so-called war on women, but in the second part of his story on how obamacare could devastate home health care, jim ingle reports democrats are vulnerable because the administration's moves will disproportionately hurt women. >> the administration's cuts to home health care providers, mostly women, was mystifying to politicians of both parties, as well as care givers like dr. david fischer, who makes house calls to treat seniors in their homes, fulfilling one of the promises of obamacare. >> the home health services people are receiving is actually bending the cost curve down. and i think if we focus more on that aspect of our health care system, we'll bend that cost

curve even further. >> then why cut funds for home health care workers? his eyes and ears with home bound seeners letting him known when someone falls or gets sick, like yeah vaughn, who had pneumonia, but treated at home, avoiding expensive trips to the er or hospital. >> for the cost of one er visit, you can pay for a year's worth of home physicians. >> that may be why more than half of the senate signed a letter objecting to the cuts after government analysts say it would force 40% of home health care companies into the red, threatening 498,000 jobs, mostly women. 51 senators signed the letter including 36 key democrats ranging from chuck schumer in the leadership, to michael bennett, along with a slew of liberals such as elizabeth warren and the most liberal independent lawmaker, bernie sanders. their letter opposing the cuts said such a move, quote, would

raise serious concern about access to care for vulnerable seniors, especially those in rural and underserved areas. and that home health care is a critical service that allows patients to be treated in age where they want to be in their homes. not only that, the administration action hurts mostly women at a time when president obama and democrats campaign committees are focusing on them and want to accuse republicans of a war on women. one critic says women are complaining the most because they'll be hurt the most. >> it's going to negatively affect them and also a lot of the home health cakacare worker the majority of those are women. women will lose jobs and women will get poorer care than they're getting now. >> as are most adult care givers, such as yvonne's daughter, who rely on health care works for care at home, not at the hospital. so many democrats worry about it especially in an election year. bret. >> we'll follow it, jim, thank

you. imagine being able to engineer your baby, to filter out all possible problems and perhaps enhance its intelligence. or athleticism or looks. genetic manipulation is no longer just the stuff of science fiction. shannon bream on the very real prospect and serious implications of designer babies. >> we should be careful to talk about these things and sort them out. >> in some respects, that's what the fda is doing in a two-day fact finding symposium about controversial technology that would manipulate genetic material to create children with not two but three genetic parents. the technology is aimed at assisting families at risk of passing along mitochondrial dewreez by taking the mother's faulty material and replacing it with a healthy donor's. >> if you could take a piece of that part of the dna that's damaged and replace it with a new part, if you will, that comes from another human, this

is something that could really change the whole view of diseases in the future. the problem is where do we stop? >> but the fda isn't touching on that quandary n stead focusing on the science of the procedure rather than the moral questions attached to it. >> scientific issues cannot be considered in isolation from their moral effects and we simply must take up the questions in parallel to each other. >> leading ethicists like doctors robert george and landry in ethics and the integrity of science are urging the tda to put the brakes on the technology, calling it, quote, reckless, and it would have the dubious distinction of being the first assisted reproduction technology necessarily involving the deliberate destruction of human embryos. others believe there's room for compromise on the heated issue. >> if you want to draw the line,

you have to draw it in another play. not say never do this, but only use it for diseases. if that's what we're going to say, i'm comfortable with that. to say we're not going to do it at all and leave kids impaired or dying, that seems to me not the right ethical course. >> in the midst of arguably one of the most critical ethical debates of our time, some are asking why a key voice is missing? >> i want to know where is president obama's ethics counsel led by amy gutman. they seem to be awol on this issue. >> we have reached out to the white house for comment from either the president or a member of the bioethics counsel, so far, we have not gotten one. >> thank you. so what do you think? do you think humans should be able to design their babies, even to protect them from disease? let me know at facebook.com/bretbaiersr or at twitter. up next, the senate's top democrat unleashes a hornet's nest over obamacare. first, here's what somef our fox

affilulates are covering. fox 11 in los angeles with preparations for california's first significant storms in months. the drought stricken state needs the water, but there are fears of mudslides and flooding. fox 13 in tampa with a bumper strawberry crop. it turns out the warm weather has produced more and sweeter berries just in time for the big strawberry festival. and this is a live look at austin, texas, from fox 7. the big story there tonight, a federal judge's ruling declaring the state's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. but the judge also issued a stay, meaning the ban remains in effect for now pending appeal. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report." we'll be right back. lobsterfest is the king of all promotions.

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president obama is on his way back to the white house after a quick trip to minnesota to push for more spending on infrastructure repairs.

the president did not talk health care, and increasingly touchy subject for senate democrats trying to hold on to their majority this fall. back here in washington, the top democrat decided to confront obamacare head on, and it did not go well. here is chief white house correspondent ed henry. >> while control of the senate will be decided in several red states where democrats are vulnerable, president obama today visited the safely blue state of minnesota, pushing to spend more taxpayer dollars, $302 billion, to be precise, to rebuild america's roads and bridges. >> these are competitive granlts we created as part of the recovery act, also known as the stimulus, which actually works. despite what everybody claims. >> yet backlash on issues ranging from the stimulus to health care has left the president not so popular in red states like kentucky, where democrat allison grimes is trying to take senate republican leader mitch mcconnell's seat, so she's instead turning to

surrogates like former president bill clinton. >> it makes a big difference who wins this election. >> and when pressed yesterday on why the current president is not out there helping vulnerable senate democrats, even harry reid suggested the former president may be a better asset. >> we do have one president who has been going everyplace, and that's clinton. >> today, senate democrats launched a major counteroffensive on health care. >> despite all that good news, there's plenty of horror stories untold. all of them untrue. >> john thune fired back, reid owes americans all across the country an apology for suggesting they're lying. >> we have been on the floor reading constituent mail in our offices from families and individuals who have been adversery affected and harmed by obamacare because of cancelled coverages and higher premiums and higher deductibles. >> by the end of the day, reid was back pedaling a bit on the claim all health care horror

stories are not true, but doubling down in another way by charging the conservative koch brothers are, quote, un-american. >> i can't say that every one of the koch brothers' ads are a lie, but i'll say this. the vast, vast majority of them are. it's time that the american people spoke out about this terrible dishonesty of these two brothers who are about as un-american as anyone i can imagine. >> prosperity, which is running the ads, responded that reid is trying to divert attention away from bad news. >> ed henry live on the north lawn, thank you. a major development tonight in the keystone xl pipeline controversial. the state department general determined correct procedures were followed to determine whether there was a conflict of interest for the firm that did the environmental impact study. they said there were no adverse

environmental implications for the project. john boehner said it's long past time the president stops pandering to his extremist allies and approve the pipeline. >> stocks were up today. the dow gains 19. the s&p 500 finished ahead a fraction. the nasdaq was up 4.5. >> what if hillary clinton does not run for president? first, the arizona bill involving faith, business, and gay rights that could have enormous repercussions. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ told ya you could do it. (dad vo) i want her to be safe. so, i taught her what i uld angot her a subaru. irl) piece of cake. ♪

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to nbcuniversal's coveragens of the biggest loser olympic winter games ever, with the most coverage of the most events on every device. and the most hours of streaming video on the nbc sports live extra app, including the x1 platform from xfinity. comcast was honored to bring every minute of every medal of nbcuniversal's coverage to every screen. so what's next? rio 2016. welcome to what's next. comcast nbcuniversal. the stakes for arizona governor jan brewer over a controversial bill its critics say is linked to discrimination against gays could not be much higher. economics, elections. even next year's super bowl.

tonight, senior correspondent adam housley looks at what's in the bill and why it's so radioactive. >> arizona senate bill 1062 has put the grand canyon state back in the national spotlight. dividing political foes that say the bill in very different ways. >> i have to give credit to the opponents who have managed to turn this into some sort of a discrimination bill against gays. it couldn't be farther from that. >> the governor needs to veto this because it's bad for business, but most importantly, it's bad for arizona. >> and potentially bad for the arizona economy. apple, marriott, and american airlines are urging jan brewer to veto the bill. the nfl which plans to hold next year's super bowl in the state is watching the outcome. >> there's outrage, confusion, and a general feeling of why is this happening in arizona in a

time when our economy is in the ditch? >> 41 lines long, the bill broadens the definition of who is protected from lawsuits for denying business or services which the provider believes would violate his or her religious beliefs. in part, it states the person's action or refusal to act is motivated by a religious belief and that the person's religious belief is sincerely held. the bill's authors and supporters say their intentions are being misconstrued and they just want to insure that individuals and businesses are not forced to do something that goes against their religious beliefs. >> i think they're misguided and misinformed. i don't know -- i do not know of one situation where a gay person has been turned down in a restaurant. >> political heavyweights like former massachusetts governor mitt romney and arizona senators john mccain and jeff flake are also urging brewer to veto it, and several state lawmakers who helped pass the legislation have now changed their minds. >> we had reservations at the very beginning about this.

and when we saw the outcry on what was really going to happen, how it was going to damage the state, we decided this is not right and we never should have gone along with it. we just made a mistake. >> brewer's acknowledged the bill is controversial and she did tweet that she'll do the right thing for arizona. it will automatically become law if brewer doesn't act by saturday. >> we'll follow it. adam, thank you. there's that old saying, everyone always talks about the weather but no one does anything about it. some people feel the same way about tax reform. but today, one republican congressman is trying to change that. correspondent doug mckelway is here with specifics. >> good evening, bret. house ways and means committee chairman has been working to simplify our massive tax code. it's so complex, camp believes it hinders growth. >> i don't think we can afford to wait. i can't settle for an economy that grows at 2%. >> camp unveiled his proposal

that includes 228 provisions of the existing tax code. it flattens into two brackets of 10% and 25% for all taxable income. it creates a standard deduction of $11,000 for individuals, $22,000 for married couples. and it ups the child tax credit to $1,500. it also repealed the alternative minimum tax and simplifies the tax of investment income. but in a town that lives and breathes through tax loopholes carved out by special interest, his plan is coming under heavy fire. >> it's a nightmare for accountants and attorneys, once they stop objecting to the provisions, they'll a lot less work to do. >> one such organization said, it's quote, disappointing that he chose to single out private equity, real estate, and venture capital investment by exacting a 40% tax increase, discouraging small business growth.

and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell doudz it will fly in the senate. >> i don't see how we can because the majority leader and the president have said they want a trillion dollars in new revenue for the federal government as a condition for doing comprehensive tax reform. >> republicans have their own doubts about camp's plan. it imposes a surtax on those making over $400,000 a year. so camp is getting it from all sides, normally that's a sign you're doing something right, except in washington where normal rules don't always apply. bret. >> that is true. doug, thank you. joe biden on hatred and hoops. how to embarrass a world leader beyond a shadow of a doubt, and a college student teaches the edge karlts a lesson in free speech. the grapevine is next. at od, whatever business you're in, that's the business we're in

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vice president biden told a crowd tuesday that laws around the country requiring voters to show i.d. are being driven by hatred. >> hatred never, never ultimately goes away. one lesson we've learned, it seemed to me, is the zealotry of those who wish to limit the franchise can't be smothered by reason. >> that statement stirred up the twitter sphere with references to the places you need an i.d. signing up for obamacare, racist? buying alcohol, racist? biden says voter i.d. laws,

evidence of hatred and zealotry. no, mr. biden, it's about common sense and responsibility. then in the same speech, vice president biden recognized sacramento mayor kevin johnson, a former nba player, and issued a challenge to president obama for a showdown on the court. >> i told the president next game i have him. just remember, i may be a white boy, but i can jump. >> the college student that stopped a student -- the college that stopped a student from handing out copies of the constitution has learned a $50,000 lesson on the first amendment. in accept, we told you about the modesto junior college student who decided to spend national constitution day handing out copies of the document to his fellow students. well, the school made him stop because he was not in a designated area, and did not sign up in advance. now, the school has agreed to pay that student $50,000 and revise its rules governing free

speech. finally, in public life, lighting can make a big difference. that lesson came the hard way this week when a simple finger point by israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, cast an unflattering shadow on angela merkel. she was there to get the medal of presidential distinction. one click of the shutter from another direction and everyone is talking about the picture's resemblance to a less popular leader. on twitter, if at any point you feel unlucky today, just remind yourself you're not angela merkel, unless you are angela merkel. and, oh, heil no. conventional wisdom moves fast here in washington, and right now, when you ask most political pundits, hillary clinton as the democratic nominee in 2016 is winning the cw award.

but what happens if hillary does not run? here's chief political correspondent carl kemp. >> leading every poll of potential candidates, hillary clinton drew a standing room only crowd for the annual awards for advancing women in peace and security. >> when wumen are excluded and margin marginalized, we all suffer. >> she speaks at the university of miami tonight. she's conspicuously discouraged supporters from boosting her canddouse. the super pac priorities usa is now officially fund-raising for clinton 2016 and holds its first big gathering in new york city tomorrow night. if clinton hoped all the organizing on her behalf would scare the other candidates out of the race, she may have been disappointed to hear vice president biden denying saying if he runs, he won't. >> you said if she runs, you will not. >> i absolutely have not.

it's as likely i run as i don't. i haven't made up my mind. >> he joked about it when seth meyers debuted at the new late show host. >> i was planning on making a major announcement, but i decided tonight's 94 night. >> thank you. >> i hope you'll invite me back. >> biden is not alone in considering a run against clinton. deval patrick suggested he could run, too. martin o'malley is actively campaigning and said a clinton candidacy will not deter him. >> andrew cuomo has done little but not taken himself out of consideration, and jerry brown and former vermont governor howard dean who have both run for president before, suggested if nobody challenges her from the left, they might. if clinton decides not to run for president, most think it would be for personal or health reasons and the nomination will be frantic and wide open. none of the other contenders

have anything close to her stature. if she does bow out, most republicans think the gop's chances of reclaiming the white house go way up. >> thank you. florida democratic congressional candidate alex sink is laying out an interesting argument for immigration reform. this is what she said during a forum tuesday. >> we have a lot of employers that rely upon workers and especially in this high-growth environment, where are you going to get people to work to clean our hotel rooms or do our landscaping? and we don't need to put these employers in a position of hiring undocumented and illegal workers. >> sink is running in a special election for the seat of the late bill young. her campaign says that clip misrepresents the candidate's position on immigration. we'll have a full report on that race tomorrow. so is president obama bailing on afghanistan at the cost of national security? what is the policy? we'll ask the fox all-stars in

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the longer we wait, the more likely the possibility is that we end up with a zero option, with no troops at all beyond 2014 because we cannot and will not have u.s. troops on the ground without a signed bsa. >> 2014 is the year that the troops will leave, anyway, and there was no discussion of complete withdrawal in the media. rather the point was the withdrawal is already planned and scheduled. >> the president has ordered the pentagon to come up with a plan to withdraw all troops from afghanistan because hamid karzai, the president, has refused to sign this bilateral security agreement, the bsa. general mark dempsey was in afghanistan today, and he said

this to reporters. quote, it is having an effect, it being this plan to remove all troops, having an effect on the enemy. in some ways i think it encourages them and intelligence supports that. there are parts of the country where it seems to be their will with some likelihood, the accomp dashzs between the afghan security forces and the taliban. i think a delay in the security agreement might accelerate those kind of accommodations. i don't think it will be widespread, by the way, but we have to be alert to that possibility. he went on to say some security forces will start hedging their bets because of this news. let's bring in our panel, george will, mara eliasson, and steve hays. george, the chairman of the joint chiefs is essentially saying just with this news out there, it could alter the situation on the ground. >> i think that's the case. and this is driven by a kind of personal chemistry in part. obviously, mr. karzai is, to put

it politely, an acquired taste that mr. obama is having trouble acquiring, but i don't think obama dislikes karzai more than franklin roosevelt disliked charles de gualle in the second world war. he, however, subsumed his personal animosity for strategic reasons. particularly given there's an election coming up, april 5th, at which time he would have another to like or dislike. it seems this is somewhat premature. i know it will take ten months to break down the air force base, but the idea we have to do it now, we're making a wager we can't afford to lose. >> mara, critics charge that in iraq there was really this sense that the president never really wanted to listen to his commanders and to leave any kind of residual force on the ground, and he wanted the status of forces agreement to fall apart. is it possible that the administration is saying, you know what, zero forces in

afghanistan, that might not be so bad? >> i disagree with that in this case. i think the military and the white house are on the same page here. they are calling karzai's bluff. it might be risky. they know, though, that there will be another president eventually, and they have high hopes that that president will sign the agreement that karzai won't. i think that the dangerous thing is they don't want to have a zero troops there. they want to have enough troops to train the afghan military and to protect kabul and have a base there. that's important for the u.s. trusteejicily. i don't think the president is willing to risk all of that. >> president obama has not talked about afghanistan. he just hasn't talked about it much at all. >> no, he doesn't talk about it much. i mean, he came into office saying this was the war, this was a central front in the war on terrorism, and the speech he gave at west point, we have to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al qaeda in afghanistan and pakistan before we leave. he gave an end date, but he said that was the object chb to keep

us save so there weren't safe havens. that is manifestly not the case today. so i agree with george. this talk is premature. i don't have any problem with president obama getting tough with hamid karzai. karzai has been a bad partner in this for the better part of the last five years. he can't count on -- we can't count on him to do what he says. he's corrupt beyond belief. but at the same time, i don't think karzai is acting irrationally either. he look s at what we did in ira and u.s. efforts to try secret peace talks with the taliban back a couple years ago, and he says these guys are want going to be here. i need to be in good with the people who are going to be here. that's the taliban. that's iran. >> you look at the polls, though, our latest gallup poll about afghanistan. the question being looking back, do you think the united states made a mistake sending troops to fight in afghanistan in 2001? look at the polls, yes, 49%.

no, 48%. politically, george, the american public doesn't seem to mind that zero troops might be there, and afghanistan is what it is. >> not only don't mind. i think they rejoice at that. it would be clearly very popular. the american people have been stupendously patient about it. we have been in afghanistan twice as long, more than twice as long as we fath in the second world war. the casualties have been low, so it hasn't been nagging. >> although 90% of the casualties in afghanistan have happed under this administration. >> correct, but it's not the living room war we had with vietnam where you had nightly reminders that americans are in harm's way. there's no question the american public would say zero, that's about the right number. >> a pull out in the end of the year? >> i don't thinkt they go to zero. they need it, they need it for pakistan, and they'll probably get it with a different president. >> there should be residual force. i would hope it's higher than

the 10,000 that has been the subject of discussion lately. we need it for regional security, we need it to protect the afghan government, whatever the new government looks like. and we need it to send a signal that the united states is not going to be disengaged in that region. >> next up, designer babies.

it's one thing to send out by genetic modification. it's a different issue to say, hey, i want to figure out if i should make a taller baby or a stronger baby or a smarter baby. this may open the door to doing those things, but i'm not sure you can hold the babies hostage and say we're not going to fix

diseases because it might lead to a slippery slope. >> this would introduce a new family structure. three genetic parents even if the contribution of the third parent with some mitochondrial dna was very symposium to it manipulate genetic material to create children with not two, but three genetic parents in order, scientists say to avoid potentially fatal might toe disease. we're back with the panel. >> two issues. should would he be doing this at all and should would he be doing it now in the first one, i think, is exceedingly difficult, ethical question. if we allow as the person in that sound bite suggested. if we allow this to happen now for what we consider

noble reasons, will we then restrict this activity later for the same reasons? or will it open the door for people to pick and choose whether you are talking about eye color or height or what have you? the second question to me seems much easier question and the answer is. no we would need before anything like this was undertaken on any kind of a broader scale to have a major national public debate about the wisdom of doing. this there it are also, i think, serious safety questions about. this if you look back at the it 19 babies that were produced this way before 2001, before the fda put a stop on this, two of them developed turner syndrome, which the usual rates of incidence of that is one in 2500. we can't draw a line from a to b and say that was the problem. but it raises questions and there hasn't been any systematic longitudinal testing in the babies of the health of the children who are now alive with us. >> mara, leadingeth itcists.

>> this is is a debate that's just beginning. i agree with steve. i don't think we should do it now. we don't know enough about it i for one don't understand what is in that d.n.a.? is it the stuff that determines what kind of hair color or intelligence you have? on the other hand, there are a lot of parents who don't want to have a child with a genetic disease and they want to do something about that. but, i do think this is an important debate to have. this is the stem cell debate of today. that's what this is about. there are people who objected to this because there are embryos that are destroyed in the process as they would be with any kind of stem cells. this not like gaos when we talk about plans. these are genetically modified human beings. >> put us farther along than

even europe or asia as far as that goes. well, we have in a remarkably short time become used to. children conceived in lab dishes and brought to term in surrogate wombs. this however is different it is, however, described accurately i think as therapy. that is it is the pursuit of a accepted norm of health, the prevention of disease. at most, you would describe it as negative eugenics. it's one thing to say we are going to prevent a crippling or fatal illness. it's another thing to say well, maybe there is a michael jordan in this d.n.a. somewhere. i think we are a long way from that scientifically. a along away from that ethically. if it is possible to draw a line where you can stop on this slippery slope between therapy and the engineering of designer children, it's

worth trying. >> i want to turn to a different study out this past week on child obesity. ages 2 to a down 43% in 2011, 2012. compared to 2003, 2004. george, you weighed in having some thoughts about these stats. >> the most effective thing government does is disseminate public health information. smoking, seat belts, all kind of things. if these numbers, which look like outliers but if they are, in fact, real, because it's on children ages 2 to 5 when obesity sets in as life crippling experience. it's astonishing way to begin to prevent health. medicine is not health. medicine is what you do when you have lost health. this is a way to prevent terrible things from happening. if we could reduce vehicular accidents, violence, coronary artery disease, obesity, and the adult onset

diabetes that comes with it, all the result of known risky behavior, if we can change behavior, we can do a lot more to reduce our healthcare than tinkering with legislation will ever do. >> if those numbers are correct and they are astonishing numbers. >> the journal of science has some questions. >> yeah. they are astonishing numbers. i think it is a testament to the use of the bully pulpit and moral persuasion. the first lady has adopted this as her cause. and you have got to give her some credit for it if in fact those numbers are true. >> final thoughts, steve? >> yeah, i think that's a big if. we he don't know that and that would be that short of a turn around because of the campaign that the first lady undertook. >> that is it for the panel. stay tuned for special birthday surprise. captain obvious: i'm in a hotel.

and a hotel is the perfect place to talk to you about hotels. all-you-can-eat is a hotel policy that allows you to eat all that you can. the hotel gym is short for gymnasium. the hotel pool is usually filled with water.

and the best dot com for booking hotels, is hotels.com. it's on the internet, but you probably knew that. or maybe not, i don't really know you. bellman: welcome back, captain obvious. captain obvious: yes i am. all those words are spelled correctly. i couldn't lay down it was a i couldn't sit up because it burned so ch. as first ladof our church we have meetings. we have activities. and i couldn't do any of that. any time anythg brushed up against thisash it would seelike it would set it on fire again. it was the worst pain i ever had.

finally tonight, a

birthday gift you cannot put a price on. 3-year-old brigitte carr's dad, joshua, had been gone on a four month tour in afghanistan. so, for her birthday, brigitte got a huge present. and here she is unwrapping the giant box on her big day. oh my goodness. >> there is tissue. come over here and open up the flap. let's see. >> happy birthday. [giggles] [squeals] >> hi, i missed you. [giggles] >> oh, man, was that a silly present? >> can't you just watch those all day? every one. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for this "special

report,", balanced and unafraid. greta goes "on the record" right now. and "special report" online begins in 8 seconds. this is a fox news alert. the house approving republican backed. democrats insist all the deals does is keeps the irs targeting scandal alive and the democrats once again calling the irs targeting a phony scandal and pointing fingers right at fox news. >> we have all heard the outrage and the innuendo republican colleagues and chief mouth piece fox news. >> political theater crowded to make the producers at fox television happy. this is not a political issue. this is not about an r or a d this is about a we. >> this r. here comes the irs yi